The American Psychological Association, which establishes the standards for professional training in mental health, has voted to suspend its requirement according to which the post -laurea programs show a commitment for diversity in recruitment and hiring.
The decision comes as accreditation organisms during higher education to respond to the executive order signed by President Trump who attacks the policies of diversity, equity and inclusion. It makes a push to expand the profession of psychology, which is disproportionately white and female, in a moment of growing anguish among young Americans.
APA is the main accreditation body for professional training in psychology and the only one recognized by the United States Public Education Department. It provides accreditation to about 1,300 training programs, including doctoral internship and post -dotor residences.
Trump made the accreditation bodies a particular goal in his crusade against the programs of the dei, threatening in a video of the campaign to “shoot the radical leftists who have allowed our universities to become dominated by maniacs and crazy Marxists” and “accept applications for the new accreditation”.
The officials of the Department of Justice have put pressure on the accreditation bodies in recent weeks, warning the American Bar Association in a letter that could lose its status unless he has repealed the mandates of diversity. The ABA voted at the end of February to suspend its diversity and the inclusion standard for legal schools.
The concession by the APA, a support bastion for the programming of diversity, is a particular point of reference. The association has made the fight against racism a central focus of his work in recent years and in 2021 he adopted a resolution to apologize for his role in perpetuating racism by other things, among other things, promulgating eugenic theories.
Aaron Joyce, Senior Director of the APA accreditation, said that the decision to suspend the requirement of diversity was led by “a great influx of concerns and investigations” by programs interested for the pan of the President’s Order.
In many cases, he said, the institutions had been educated by their legal advice to cease the activities related to diversity and were worried that they could endanger their accreditation.
“The Commission does not want to put programs at risk not to exist due to a conflict between the institutional guidelines” and the accreditation standards, said dr. Joyce.
He would not have described the count of the vote of 13 March, which followed about three weeks of resolution. “Nothing of this was an easy decision and not made lightly,” he said. “Understanding individual and cultural diversity is a fundamental aspect of the practice of psychology.”
The Commission opted to preserve another standard relating to diversity: programs must teach trainees to respect cultural and individual differences in order to treat their patients effectively. In reviewing each standard, the Commission has weighed “what can put the programs in a compromised position” against “what is essential for the practice of psychology that simply cannot be changed,” he said.
A spokesman for the Department of Justice said that the APA took a good step, but should have taken further measures to eliminate the mandates of diversity, which he said “encourage or request illegal discrimination”.
“Suspension is a welcome development, but it is almost not enough,” said the spokesperson. “These types of rules are illegal and have not placed in a society that enhances individuals for their character”.
Kevin Cokley, professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, said he was “absolutely devastated” to know the APA decision on a list of psychology this week.
“Frankly, I think the decision is truly inconceivable, given what we know of the importance of having different mental health suppliers,” said dr. Cokley. “I don’t know how the APA can make this type of decision and to think that we are still keeping the highest training standards.”
He said he thought that the APA had acted prematurely and could have waited until he had to face a direct challenge from the administration.
“I think there is always a choice,” he said. “I think this is a classic example of the APA that is committed to early conformity. They made the transition from the fear of what could happen to them.”
According to the data of the APA, the psychological workforce is disproportionately white. In 2023, over 78 percent of active psychologists was white, 5.5 percent was black, 4.4 percent was Asian and 7.8 percent were Latin. (The general population is about 58 % white, 13.7 percent in black, 6.4 percent Asia and 19.5 percent Latin.)
The demographic rupture of students graduated in research. The programs, on the contrary, are more in line with the country. According to 2022 the data of the APA, 54 percent of doctoral students was white, 10 percent was black, 10 percent was Asian and 11 percent from Latin.
John Dovido, emeritus professor of Psychology in Yale and author of “Unguale health: anti-black racism and the threat to American health,” he said that the attention of the APA on diversity in recruitment played an important role in that change.
“It’s really something that the departments take a lot, very seriously,” he said. “I saw the impact personally.”
A memorandum that announces the decision describes it as a “provisional action pending further judicial indications” on the executive order of Mr. Trump, who was supported by a Federal Court of Appeal on March 13th. The order, he says: “It is currently the law while the dispute is in progress”.
Cynthia Jackson Hammond, president of the Council for the accreditation of higher education, which coordinates more than 70 accreditation groups, said that it is not “unprecedented” for these bodies to receive direct orders from the government.
“The government and higher education have always worked independently and in good faith with each other,” he said. “Over the decades, what we have had is a healthy separation, so far.”
The Federal Government began to take on a role in accreditation after the Second World War, while veterans have flooded in universities under the legal plan. The accreditation bodies are regularly revised by the National Consultative Committee for institutional quality and integrity, which recommends the secretary to education on the opportunity to continue to recognize them.
But government officials have never used this lever to impose an ideological direction to higher education, said Jackson Hammond. He said that diversity in the recruitment remains a serious challenge for higher education, which is why the standard is still so commonly used.
“If we think about how our institutions appeared before,” he said, “it could be a barometer of what it will be if there was no attention.”